Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth2 (section)

===Part 1===

They had left Carrier Izanami and Landing Ship Izanagi, but they were reluctant to visit the northern Empire after it had been struck by so many ballistic missiles. They flew the Shinshin two seat custom east and, by the time dawn arrived, Mikoto and Shokuhou had decided on their next destination.

“Adeleden Sky Pirate Port?”

“That’s right,” said Shokuhou, checking her notes while riding the fighter in her summer uniform. (She had either gotten used to it or had used Mental Out to erase her nausea.)

She had apparently jotted down a few coordinates before leaving the Izanami.

Mikoto was cautious.

“A port rather than an island? That’s on the south of the Y-shaped continent, so isn’t it part of the Cutalularia Republic mainland?”

“It’s the last place they’ll think to look. Either way, we can hide out at any of the sky pirate locations. And while they could bomb an island without any backlash, the military has to worry about the civilians watching when it’s part of the mainland. So this is actually safer.”

“If you say so.”

Mikoto decided to leave all this plotting to the scheming Queen.

The Sky Pirate Port wasn’t hard to spot. A few transport planes (which were of course giant girls) could be seen landing at a crude airfield in the jungle, but the process was a mess compared to an official air force. They were probably helping smuggle contraband or people into the country.

“It’s a miracle they aren’t colliding with each other…”

Astonished, Mikoto set the radio channel and contacted the control tower. She descended toward a flashing light on the ground and landed on a 3000m runway. That length actually felt new to her. Without the wire, she decelerated slowly and she was afraid she was going to slip. The open view around her felt really weird.

…No, maybe the hellish combination of landing in a gap between buildings on a 300m runway rocking from the waves had been the weird part. Mikoto stared into the distance. Had she gotten started all wrong?

“You new here?” asked a bearded man who had helped with the landing process.

A group of what looked like guards approached.

Maybe stolen from some military or another, a pair of (gloomy track suit girl) SIDAM 25 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns stood on thick continuous tracks at either side, aiming – just a bit – this way to keep the Shinshin from taking off from the grass.

(Now, then.)

Mikoto opened the canopy, stood from the Shinshin’s cockpit, and looked down at the man standing on the ground.

“We’re customers. We’re only here to rent a hangar to hide this and for some fuel. Oh, and we have water fuel in our tank, so if you use gasoline-based JP-4, make sure to empty the tank before filling it back up. We haven’t using any ammo, so we don’t need any.”

She had carelessly mixed fuel types when refueling from the Imperial air tanker and it had worked out fine, but it was still better to play it safe.

“Can you pay?”

The bearded man was straight and to the point.

Fuel, repairs, supplies, storage, modifications, investigation, food, lodging, entertainment, survival, and more.

The Sky Pirate Port was convenient, but everything cost money.

And it was doubtful this world accepted Japanese yen.

Mikoto was as casual as could be.

“Shokuhou, how about you pawn that brand-name bag?”

“That isn’t funny!!”

Shokuhou hurriedly protected the bag with her body, but she also pulled out something else.

“I happen to have money we can use. You are set up to accept e-money, I hope?”

“Your phone?” asked Mikoto, frowning.

Was Shokuhou going to sell her high-quality Academy City mobile device instead of her bag?

“We couldn’t use them while out at sea, but now that we’re on land and the signals from the antenna bases can reach us, we can use our phones like normal. I registered with a fake name and started trading, and I have already earned some of this world’s stocks and crypto-assets.”

(Oh, but wait…)

Mikoto realized something, but ignorant Shokuhou waved her smartphone to show off all the zeroes on the screen.

The blonde Queen winked.

“Now, now. This should prove our ability to pay. So if you would kindly let us hide the Shinshin before- huh?”

The men wordlessly drew machetes.

Did that girl not realize what it meant for this to be a Sky Pirate Port?

The men must have decided they would make more money stealing all of that money than by engaging in an honest deal. She could have only paid the necessary amount, but that idiot just had to show off how much she had.

Mikoto silenced them all (including the track suit self-propelled anti-aircraft guns a short distance away) by firing a Railgun warning shot.

“Okay, people. You aren’t so stupid you aren’t familiar with the idea that money doesn’t do you any good dead, right!? We said we’ll pay, so get to work to earn that pay. If you do anything other than what we’ve asked, we’ll consider that a betrayal and defend ourselves. So what’ll it be?”